Meaningful Youth Participation in Practice – The Rabat Process and Nigeria’s local YACs
In May 2025, the Ambassador for Youth, Education, and Work, Jurriaan Middelhoff visited Nigeria. Throughout this activity-filled work visit, ranging from attending the Rabat Process thematic meeting on Youth, Education, and Innovation: Driving the Future of Migration in Abuja, to launching the Youth Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Mapping Report in Lagos, meaningful youth participation was a reoccurring topic.
This article was written with the input and help of two local Youth Advisory Committee members in Nigeria.
Youth Shaping the Migration and Development Agenda
Focus of Middelhoff’s working visit was a thematic meeting on Youth, Education, and Innovation: Driving the Future of Migration, taking place on 13th and 14th of May 2025 in Abuja, Nigeria. As part of the Rabat Process, the Euro-African Dialogue on Migration and Development, the meeting brought together over 120 participants from 38 African and European partner countries, including youth, government delegates, diaspora representatives, civil society, academia, and the private sector. Co-chaired by Nigeria and Spain, it was a follow-up to previous dialogue session in 2023, hosted in The Hague, highlighting the vital role of youth in migration policy.
Focusing on the role of young people in the future of migration, Middelhoff joined a panel discussion together with Dr. Abike Dabiri Erewa (chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission); Juan Jaime Martinez (head of the Cultural Department at Casa Africa, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Spain); and Dimanche Sharon (chief of mission, IOM Nigeria). Emphasizing young people’s role as both stakeholders and architects of future migration policy, Middelhoff expressed the importance of job creation, entrepreneurial development and decent education opportunities. In his words: “investing in youth means directly investing in a country’s future. Not only does it make future generations more resilient and self-sufficient, it concretely works towards stability and economic development on a national scale.”
Walking the talk, Middelhoff invited to the stage Ajala Oluwafunmilayo– one of the Nigerian local Youth Advisory Committee members in Lagos and co-founder of youth-led organization ‘organization ‘Youth Sustainable Development Network’. Sharing a youthful perspective, Funmilayo discussed her experiences as a YAC member and elaborated how this experience had strengthened her skills and understanding of diplomacy. Her words emphasized the importance of youth inclusion in decision making, exemplified by how her focus on the effect of migration on mental health – a topic she raised during the Rabat Process Dialogue in 2023 – had been adopted by the Dutch Consulate in Nigeria in their program design.
Following Funmilayo, Abdussamad Ahmad Yusuf, member of the local Youth Advisory committee Abuja, was also given an opportunity to speak. He shared his experiences coming from northern Nigeria, a region that has for over a decade experienced the surge of non-state actors. In his view, healing communities from experiences with systematic social injustices and addressing the root causes of extremism should be a priority. In his work for Tea4Peace Initiative, Abdussamad connects local youth and leaders for intergenerational dialogue on sustainable peacebuilding, countering extremism, governance and accountability.
A Youthful Perspective
As part of the panel discussion, both local YAC members were asked for recommendations on how institutions can maximize the potential of youth engagement. In response, Funmilayo and Yusuf advised the delegations present to create a Youth Advisory Board to actively invoke the voices of youth.
Emphasizing the importance of centering youth, women, and girls, Funmilayo and Abdussamad recommended that this inclusion should go beyond an invitation to the table. Rather, centering their voices should take place through sustained engagement with decision-makers, and participatory governance. Partaking in the thematic meeting on Youth, Education, and Innovation, both YAC members bubbled with energy and ideas – sharing these during various panels and breakout sessions, but also whilst networking with other delegates from across Europe and Africa.
In their own words:
“We were given the platform to make our voices heard as youth; I was given the opportunity to speak alongside Jurriaan Middelhoff, Ambassador for Youth, Education, and Work, the Netherlands, where I spoke about my experience as a youth advisor to the Netherlands consulate.” — Funmilayo Ajala
“My experience at the YAC and the Rabat Process thematic meeting is the centrality of youth voice to not just migration governance but the wider development and policy conversation globally. It isn’t just about participation but about influencing what directly or indirectly affects us as young people. I have seen that readiness in the Rabat Process with the number of stakeholders willing to work with us.” — Abdussamad Ahmad Yusuf
Meaningful Youth Participation in Nigeria
Amplifying the voices of young people at a high-level meeting, such as the Rabat Process thematic meeting, is one of the ways in which the Netherlands aims to work towards meaningful youth participation. Besides, the Netherlands consults Nigerian youth through its two local Youth Advisory Committees – both in the context of Abuja and in Lagos. During his visit, Middelhoff had the opportunity to meet the YACs and discuss with them the importance of youth participation in Dutch decision making.
Up till this day, the YAC in Lagos has worked on multiple solicited and unsolicited advises. Besides collating the voices of local young Nigerian voices, the YAC has collaborated with different youth advisory organs; has advised the Dutch Consulate on disability inclusion for its Multi-Annual Country Strategy 2023-2026; and has advised the Netherlands Enterprise Agency on their business support strategy. Great examples of meaningful youth participation!
A cooperation to continue
Clearly, the voices of young people in international ties between Nigeria and The Netherlands matter. The contribution of youth to this collaboration – both through invited and unsolicited advice - young people across the country continue to have their voices heard to the Dutch government. Let’s make sure governments across the world continue listening!